Reddit mentions of The Lessons of History

have you read this book?:

https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-History-Will-Durant/dp/143914995X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1525982862&sr=8-3&keywords=the+lessons+of+history

I did a while back and it frames many of the struggles of humanity over its history as a function of various societies' rich and 'others' exerting more or less control over economic power - wondering what a history major's take on it is (if that's what you meant above)

edit: it was also a bit bizarre reading the book as much of it seems to apply very directly to many things happening in the US and the world right now, despite having been published originally in 1968 (which I did not initially know when reading it)

edit edit: damn @ this quote:

“Democracy is the most difficult of all forms of government, since it requires the widest spread of intelligence, and we forgot to make ourselves intelligent when we made ourselves sovereign.”

I say this as a fan of Evola and someone who embraces the idea that we are in the Kali Yuga: people have been complaining about the decline of their civilization forever, stop being so melodramatic about it. I get it, there is clown world shit happening that makes all of us see red, but that is no excuse to just give up. Stop waiting for some mythic event like the return of Christ, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, or whatever deus ex machina story people have been talking about since the beginning of time. Start your own damn thing.

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Many modern oligarchs did not expect to be as successful as they ended up.

• Erik Prince of Blackwater (per Jeremy Scahill) - "Erk Prince might now see his empire as the fifth branch of the USA military, but his designs for Blackwater started off much more modestly."
  
• Elon Musk thought that Tesla would fail.
  
• In 2015 who expected Trump to end up as president?
  
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  I also see a lot of complaining in here about the overwhelming amount of simps in the world. Simps aren't a problem, simps are an opportunity. Modern capitalism basically turned most of those bluepillers into serfs. Why shouldn't they be your serfs? Why should Jeff Bezos get serfs and not you?
  
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  There are an incredible amount of people (99%?) who have completely given up thinking, which translates into an incredible amount of opportunity. Men have survived and even thrived despite incredible suffering throughout history. While we have dire problems to face, our ancestors went through shit like seeing 30-60% of their continent die.
  
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  Fuck clown world. Build your own fiefdom. Most people are serfs and you don't need that many people to make a significant change in your own small corner of the world. Find a few people who are completely intolerant of clown world and start digging.
  
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  From The Lessons of History:
  
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  "So we cannot be sure that the moral laxity of our times is a herald of decay rather than a painful or delightful transition between a moral code that has lost its agricultural basis and another that our industrial civilization has yet to forge into social order and normality. Meanwhile history assures us that civilizations decay quite leisurely. For 250 years after moral weakening began in Greece with the Sophists, Hellenic civilization continued to produce masterpieces of literature and art. Roman morals began to “decay” soon after the conquered Greeks passed into Italy (146 B.C.), but Rome continued to have great statesmen, philosophers, poets, and artists until the death of Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 180). Politically Rome was at nadir when Caesar came (60 B.C.); yet it did not quite succumb to the barbarians till A.D. 465. May we take as long to fall as did Imperial Rome!"
  
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  Nassim Taleb: The Most Intolerant Wins: The Dictatorship of the Small Minority
  
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  "It suffices for an intransigent minority –a certain type of intransigent minorities –to reach a minutely small level, say three or four percent of the total population, for the entire population to have to submit to their preferences."
  
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  Jack Donovan - Becoming a Barbarian
  
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  "There’s an old Greek proverb that says, “society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” If you don’t like what’s happening around you, what’s happening to culture, what’s happening to men and women, what people are becoming — get out there and start digging. Plant the seed of something new. Of something better. Plant the seed of something you really want — not just whatever you think you can have. Show others that there’s a different way to live. Spend the rest of your life tending a root that may one day grow into a tree of liberty."

>or at least, the ones that are dominant now.

yes, of course. that's why I said " one type of religion or another". protestantism is only 500 years old, so certainly another may become dominant - see mormonism, unitarianism, etc

>Is it any surprise then that people would have become more religious?

nope, religion and strength of government tend to be inversely related. for thousands of years, rulers have used it as an aid to their power. When they are strong enough on their own, they exert supremacy, but until then, there is usually a partnership

>Then again, I mentioned that kind of philosophical illiteracy among modern Westerners... that's a huge issue for both religion and just ethics in general.

I think religion is a kind of philosophical shorthand for most humans on earth, and thats why its always been dominant. Most people are busy scrapping out a living and need a shorthand

I have a good book recommendation (dont worry, its only 100 pages) that talks about some of these macro trends from IMO the most eminent historian of the 20th century, Will Durant. Its fantastic

https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-History-Will-Durant/dp/143914995X

This all seems pretty similar to the fall of rome in a way, and Durant has a great little wrap up here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_vAcaSqWVk

let me know what you think

If you haven't already. Pick up the book, Lessons of History.

https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-History-Will-Durant/dp/143914995X

I've gone into biology textbooks, philosophy writings, How To Win Friends And Influence People, who is your audience, what do they read, what could they read, what do you have that they would be excited to read?

Yeah, finding that exciting stuff is tough. Reddit is decent, personally for all of the modern english folk language styles. I find lofty books like Carl Sagan's stuff or things like https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-History-Will-Durant/dp/143914995X have good language inspiration by hitting those "God" neurons that maybe are near those groove neurons with well learned/polished professional/scholar language.

Notebooks are good, there are crazy writings in almost every house.

Some factions may see sharing inspiration sources as dirtying your music :P not what I make, but that can be cool. Just go out in the world and find interesting writings, collect folk knowledge, tunes, words.